cadence comments about public services

5 Nov 2009

Innovation Charter ?

A joint ippr/RSA event 'After the downturn' took place in Newcastle this week at the The Pukka Pie Arena or whatever St James' Park is called this week. Speakers John Tomaney, Deborah Jenkins, Sir George Russell all had interesting things to say, but it was Matthew Taylor of the RSA who shook things up. He descirbed the final report of the Commission on public sector reform 'a decent bit of work', but that it had a 'if only feel to it' ... more

2 Nov 2009

Public service paradox

ippr north has published the final report of the Commission on public sector reform in the North East. It is called Public service paradox ... more

20 Jul 2009

The Ashes, Tour de France and public service reform

If England (and Wales) win the Ashes and Bradley Wiggins the Tour de France what will it mean for the public services? That's the sort of mixed up question that can arise during the holiday period when policy people are trying to tune out of their work (coffee and deadlines) brains and into their vacation (ice cream and family tensions) brains ... more

26 Jun 2009

Public service reform - history and the RSA

The RSA's 2020 Public Services Trust has started to publish papers. One of the first is a Brief history of public service reform and it is a good read. It is one of three papers under the banner of 'scoping the challenges'. It outlines what they call a new settlement ... more

24 Dec 2008

Back in 2009

Cadence wishes all our clients and network a prosperous 2009. More news on Cadence projects and context for our research and policy work will be here in the new year including updates on ... more

17 Dec 2008

Focus on customer needs instead of targets

'Many of today's targets fail because they are set by people remote from what customers want' says a Jeremy Cox of Vanguard Consulting in an article in the Guardian's Society section today. He also suggests that there is no correlation between the services that councils provide and their ratings. Cadence Works' research work on innovation in public services would tend to support this view ... more

3 Dec 2008

Performance Art report - Institute for Government

The Institute for Government has published its first research report. Performance Art is broadly about improving public services, but with a strong focus on PSAs and LAAs. It argues that the death of performance management and targets in Central Government have been wildly exaggerated ... more

24 Oct 2008

Public value and staff engagement

The Work Foundation's recent work on public value is interesting. We like their idea of public services 'hitting the target, but missing the point' ... more

1 Oct 2008

Co-design and old fashioned banking

Cadence's work on public service innovation has involved some thought around how the full involvement of users and front line workers might work. This is in some ways a response to the generally accepted view that the days of centrally determined targets and processes are numbered. While the current focus of the banking crisis is very much on how naughty the bosses of banks have been in lending to people and organisations who were too risky, there will come a time when we all have to look at ourselves and recognise our own roles in creating this situation. Is it time for a return for the days when those who wanted a loan or mortgage had to make an appointment to see their local bank branch manager? ... more

17 Sep 2008

Banking crisis lessons on incentives

Learning from the private sector is something that the public sector is often urged to do. This normally means something about efficiency getting results, the inference is that the public should be more like the private. It's not just the CBI who say this kind of thing, organisations like the Local Government Association quite happily put out press releases saying 'Councils can learn from best in private sector'. The current global financial uncertainty/crisis must have lessons too, but perhaps more about what not to do. Cadence has taken an interest in the role of incentives in promoting innovation and it does seem that the banking industry has been very keen on the use of cash bonus incentive systems in recent years ... more